The angular orientation of a rebar layer is defined relative to the rebar reference orientation. The global coordinate system determines the default rebar reference orientation. However, you can assign a rebar reference orientation to a shell part or region by selecting an existing datum coordinate system from the viewport and then selecting an axis on the datum coordinate system that approximates the direction of the shell normal. The datum coordinate system can be rectangular, cylindrical, or spherical; and you can apply an additional rotation to the coordinate system if required. For more information, see “Orientations,” Section 2.2.5 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.
The rebar reference orientations that you assign to a part or region are assigned automatically to all instances of that part in the assembly. You can use the Query toolset to verify that you have assigned the correct rebar reference orientation to a selected region. For more information, see “Using the Query toolset to obtain assignment information,” Section 12.14.
To assign a rebar reference orientation to a part:
If the part to which you want to assign a rebar reference orientation is not visible in the current viewport, click the name of the desired part in the Part list located under the toolbar.
The selected part appears in the current viewport.
From the main menu bar, select Assign
Rebar Reference Orientation.
Tip:
You can also click the 
tool in the Property module toolbox.
Select the shell regions from the viewport, and click mouse button 2 to indicate you have finished selecting. (For more information, see Chapter 6, “Selecting objects within the viewport.”)
Tip:
You can limit the types of objects that you can select in the viewport by clicking the selection filter tool 
in the prompt area and then clicking the selection filter of your choice in the dialog box that appears. See “Using the selection options,” Section 6.3, for more information.
If you would rather select from a list of existing sets, do the following:
Click Sets on the right side of the prompt area.
ABAQUS/CAE displays the Region Selection dialog box containing a list of available sets.
Select the part set of interest, and click Continue.
Note: The default selection method is based on the selection method you most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click Select in Viewport or Sets on the right side of the prompt area.
Specify a local coordinate system in the selected region using one of the following methods:
Select an existing datum coordinate system by name.
From the prompt area, click Datum CSYS List to display a list of datum coordinate systems.
Select a name from the list, and click OK.
Select an existing coordinate system in the viewport.
Click Use Default Orientation from the prompt area to reset a previously assigned rebar reference orientation back to the global coordinate system.
ABAQUS/CAE displays the local coordinate system specified for the region in the viewport.
From the buttons in the prompt area, select the datum coordinate system axis that approximates the direction of the shell normal.
If desired, enter an additional rotation in the prompt area.
ABAQUS/CAE applies the additional rotation, if any, and displays the resulting rebar reference orientation applied to the region in the viewport.
If the displayed rebar reference orientation is correct, click OK in the prompt area. If you want to change the orientation, click the Previous button (
) and change the orientation as necessary.
